Finishing welt



3. HILL FINISHING WELT Jan. 10, 1939.

Filed Dec.

'laren/ce' B. 112',

Patented Jan. 10, 1939 UNETED STATES FINISHING WELT Clarence B. Hill, Union City, Ind., assignor to Backstay Welt Company, a corporation of Indiana Application December 18, 1937, Serial-No. 180,646

7 Claims.

The present invention relates to finishing welts and its objects are generally to improve the appearance of the applied welt, reduce construction and application costs, lengthen the life of the welt, and strengthen the bond by which the welt is fastened to its support.

Finishing welts are trimming strips characterized by an appreciable thickness. They are used in the furniture and automobile body induslO tries to trim and conceal the meeting edges of fabric coverings for seats, wall panels and the like. In many instances it is considered desirable that these trimming elements, which are always long, relatively narrow bodies, have substantial thickness. This thickness is commonly introduced by using a core or filler of rubber, folded or braided paper, wicking or some equivalent material around which the covering fabric is folded. At the present time most finishing welts 20 are of the blind nail type, that is, they are formed with a base portion through which tacks are driven to fasten the base portion to a supporting surface and with a flap portion, hinged to the base, which is pulled back from the base during 25 the tacking operation and which is thereafter restored to covering relation with the base to conceal the tack heads.

It is to this class of blind nail finishing welts that the present invention belongs.

As universally-made, so far as I am aware, the thickening core or filler of these welts has always been located in the flap portion, the base generally being made quite thin. This construction has been dictated by considerations of appear- 35 ance, it being undesirable to have conspicuously in View the joint formed by the adjacent, superposed free edges of the flap and base opposite their hinge connection. It has also been thought necessary to concentrate the thickening in the 40 flap portion to compensate for inequalities in the elevations of the several tack heads, it being evident that a Very thick flap will lie at substantially uniform height over a series of tacks some of which may be driven into the base more deeply 45 than others.

There has always been a certain amount of difiiculty attending the neat installation of such finishing welts. That considerable care is required to apply the welt so as to present a per- 50 fectly straight or uniformly curved line will be appreciated when it is realized that the portion which is tacked to the support, and hence which determines the line of the Welt, is the comparatively thin, unsubstantial, limp and frequently almost flimsy base. If this base be tacked Without painstaking care it assumes an irregular, wavy line, and the covering flap of course faithfully conforms to this line.

While finishing welts are not normally called upon to withstand great forces tending to displace them, they are at times accidentally pulled out.

It is comparatively easy to pull from its support a welt which is held in place only by tacks passed through a base consisting only of two or three plies of fabric, and for this reason the insecure mounting of the best prior art welts has been the cause of many complaints.

The principal objects of the present invention are the elimination of the defects indicated.

An important feature of the invention is the rearrangement of the welt parts so as to concentrate the thickening element in the base, making the flap comparatively thin. I have found that the filled, appreciably contoured base has sufficient body, stability and comparative rigidity to permit it to be tacked-in place along a uniformly straight line or neat, uniform curve, without requiring the exercise of great care or skill, and that the thin, coreless covering flap faithfully follows the line established by the base. Moreover, tacks driven through the thick base and. into the support need notbe carefully applied to a uniform depth or elevation of their heads because the yielding filler of the base becomes countersunk to accommodate the heads when the tacks are driven well down into it, and inequalities in the depth of the various countersinkings are covered and concealed by the flap. Again, the increased body of the base is proof against the tack heads pulling through the base, even when subjected to extraordinary forces.

The new construction is of particular advantage when it is incorporated in a wire cloth welt or any kind of welt in which transverse wires or their equivalent, for example, sheet lead, are

used as a ply common to the flap and base. In such a case the wire or the like underlying the base filler cannot pull out or be pulled out from beneath the tack heads because it is well protected by the overlying filler. This advantage i5 is realized in increased degree when, as is done in a preferred embodiment of the invention, the filler enclosing fabric, preferably including the wire ply or its equivalent, is carried entirely or almost entirely around the base filler, so that the tacks penetrate the plies above and below the filler. The security of such an installation and its resistance to dislodgment is one of the striking and important features of the new construction.

In one form of embodiment the base core is beveled at its free edge and the cooperating free edge of the thin flap is complementally formed to underlie and, in a sense, interlock with the beveled edge of the base, so as more securely to hold the fiap down on the base.

Several exemplifications of the invention are illustrated by the accompanying drawing, in which- Figure 1 is a perspective view, with one end of the figure showing a cross section, of one form of welt with the flap displaced from the base during the tacking operation;

Fig. 2 is a similar view showing the welt of Fig. 1 in final, installed position;

Fig. 3 is a view similar to Fig. 1, showing a modified form of welt;

Fig. 4 is a view similar to Fig. 2, showing the welt of Fig. 3 in final, installed position;

Fig. 5 is a view similar to Fig. 1, showing a still further modified form of welt; and

Fig. 6 is a view similar to Fig. 2, showing the welt of Fig. 5 in final, installed position.

Referring now to the drawing, and first to Fig. 1, the new welt comprises a base I and a fiap or cover 2, integrally connected along a hinge line 3 at one edge, common to the base and fiap. The base includes a core or filler 4 of substantial thickness, consisting of a body of rubber, folded or braided paper, fabric or the like, having comparative hardness and rigidity but being in a very real sense yielding as will be hereinafter pointed out. In the illustrations the filler is shown as of substantially half-round shape, but it will be understood of course that other cross sectional contours may be preferred.

The base filler is enclosed in a covering strip of fabric or the like 5 which extends from the top side of the filler, past one edge and around its bottom and terminates in an inturned hem or its equivalent 5, forming a free edge 1 paralleling at a measured distance the edge of the filler opposite to that around which the covering fabric. was folded. The width of fabric between the free edge I and the adjacent edge of the base filler constitutes the flap or cover portion of the welt, heretofore designated 2. The width of this portion is preferably such that when it is disposed down on the base in contacting relation there with, the free edge 1 lies in substantially the plane of the bottom of the filler, so as approximately to engage the surface of a support 8 to which the welt base is tacked, all as shown in Fig. 2.

The welt may, and preferably does, include some fiap positioning or position maintaining means, such as the wire 9, which in Figs. 1, 2, 5 and 6 is shown extending across the flap and the bottom only of the base filler, and in Figs. 3 and 4 is shown extending across the flap and substantially around the base filler, terminating more or less along the line of the edge of the enclosing fabric 5. This enclosing fabric is intended to be caught and held by the tacks used in the welt installing operation, presently to be explained,'and of course when, as in Figs. 3 and 4, the portion of the wire ply or the like which projects into the base extends to the edge of this fabric, it too is caught and held by the tacks, thus materially increasing the bond by which it is secured to the fabric, the filler and the support.

The several elements of the welt, comprising the filler, the covering fabric and the wire or the like, are secured together by suitable adhesive or stitching, as is common in welt constructions. In the illustrated embodiments adhesive is used.

The welt is applied by first disposing its base and fiap portions in the detached, open relation shown in Figs. 1,3 and 5. This uncovers and exposes the base, which is then laid in the desired straight line or curved line on the support 8. Normally the base will overlie the meeting edges of upholstery fabric (not shown) covering the base. No great skill or care need be exercised in positioning the base because its comparatively great body automatically renders its side lines neatly continuous and. uniformly straight or curved. There is a marked absence of the tendency of the base to present wavy side lines as in the case of thin bases. Tacks it] are then driven through the base and into the support, the final hammer blow being made with sufficient force to embed or countersink the tack head in the comparatively yielding body of the filler somewhat below the surface elevation of the adjacent parts of the base in the line of the tacks. It is immaterial that the upper surface of the base is somewhat distorted by depressions around each tack head because the flap is folded down into contacting relation with the base as soon as the tacks have been driven home, to assume the position shown in Figs. 2, 4 and 6, and in this position covers and conceals not only the tack heads but also any slight inequalities in the upper surface of the base.

If the flap width be proportioned as in Figs. 1, 2, 3 and 4, its free edge I will come into substantial contact, with the support 8 and the welt will present the appearance of a one-piece moulding with no visible attaching means securing it to the support. If desired, the free edge may be modified to provide any of various ornamental modifications in the appearance of the installed device. Thus, for example, the free edge may be beaded, as shown at H in Figs. 5 and 6, so as to underlie the free edge of the base of the welt, which is beveled, as shown at A in Fig. 5, to accommodate the beading II. The beveling may be easily and inexpensively provided by forming the core or filler of the base out of plies of paper or the like, impregnated with a binder composition, as for example one containing asphalt, and terminating the lowest plies of the base somewhat short of the free edge of the core. The base covering fabric'5 may be drawn tight around the core and, if desired, shaped between the rolls-or in the die of a suitable forming machine so that the finished base presents the beveled appearance shown in Fig. 5. The bead H is formed in a shape which is generally complemental to the bevel, so as to underlie the beveled edge of the base, or hook under the base, as shown in Fig. 6.

In the final, installed positions shown in Figs. 2, 4 and 6, the wire or its equivalent 9, which is pliable and not springy, maintains the flap down on the base in substantial contact therewith. It also contributes to the stifiness of the thin flap and aids the flap in bridging the depressions in the base around the countersunk tack heads. In every respect I regard the use of the means 9 as preferable to cementing the flap down on the base.

It will be appreciated that tacks with comparatively broad and thick heads may be used, inasmuch as the heads are sunk into the base filler. In this way an unprecedentedly secure attachment of the welt to the support can be obtained, it being no longer necessary to use tacks with small, thin heads to provide a uniformly level foundation for the flap.

I. desire to emphasize the fact that the illustrated embodiments are given merely in explanation of the principles of the invention and as constituting the best practical embodiments now known to me. The invention can be embodied in other and differently modified forms, all of Which are to be deemed Within the scope of the appended claims insofar as they incorporate the principles of the invention defined thereby.

I claim:

1. A blind nail finishing welt comprising a covering strip folded to provide integral, hinged together base and flap portions, a core of substantial thickness included in a fold of the base portion, and pliable metallic fiap positioning means comprising a ply of wire screen included in the flap and base portions and extending across the hinge line common to said portions, the flap portion being coreless and relatively thin and being wide enough to cover and conceal the base portion after tacks have been passed through the base portion and into a support for mounting the welt.

2. A blind nail finishing welt having substantial thickness and comprising a covering strip folded to provide integral, hinged together base and flap portions, a core of substantial thickness included in a fold of the base portion, and pliable metallic flap positioning means comprising a ply of wire screen included in the flap and base portions and extending across the hinge line common to said portions, the flap portion being coreless and relatively thin and being Wide enough to cover and conceal the base portion after tacks have been passed through the base portion and into a support for mounting the welt, and the core of the base being sufficiently yielding to permit the heads of said tacks to be countersunk in the base portion by a suitable hammer blow or the like.

3. A blind nail finishing welt having substantial thickness and comprising a covering strip folded to provide integral, hinged together base and flap portions, a core of substantial thickness included in a fold of the base portion, and pliable metallic flap positioning means comprising a ply of wire screen included in the flap and base portions and extending across the hinge line common to said portions and across the central zone of the flap portion, the flap portion being coreless and relatively thin and being wide enough to cover and conceal the base portion after tacks have been passed through the base portion and into a support for mounting the welt, the core of the base being sufficiently yielding to permit the heads of said tacks to be countersunk in the base portion by a suitable hammer blow or the like, and the metallic means in the central zone of the flap portion rendering the flap portion sufficiently stiiT to bridge and conceal the depressions in the base portion caused by said countersinking.

4. A blind nail finishing Welt comprising a covering strip folded to provide integral, hinged tol gether base and flap portions, and a comets-ubstantial thickness included in a fold of the base portion, the flap portion being coreless and relatively thin and being wide enough to cover and conceal the base portion after tacks have been passed through the base portion and into a support for mounting the welt, and the covering strip being extended in the base portion ,around the core thereof past the central zone of the core, whereby tacks passed through the base portion penetrate the covering strip at both the top and bottom of the base portion.

5. A blind nail finishing welt comprising a covering strip folded to provide integral, hinged together base and fiap portions, a core of substantial thickness included in a fold of the base portion, and pliable metallic flap positioning means comprising a ply of wire screen included in the flap and base portions and extending across the hinge line common to said portions, the flap portion being coreless and relatively thin and being wide enough to cover and conceal the base portion after tacks have been passed through the base portion and into a support for mounting the welt, and the covering strip and metallic means being extended together in the base portion around the core thereof past the central zone of the core, whereby tacks passed through the base portion penetrate the covering strip and metallic means at both the top and bottom of the base portion.

6. A blind nail finishing welt comprising a covering strip folded to provide integral, hinged together base and flap portions, a core of substantial thickness included in a fold of the base portion, the free edge of the base portion being beveled to provide an undercut pocket and the flap portion being coreless and relatively thin and being inherently pliable and Wide enough to cover and conceal the base portion after tacks have been passed through the base portion and into a support for mounting the welt, and a bead on the free edge of the flap portion shaped substantially complementally to said pocket and adapted to fit therein.

7 A blind nail finishing welt comprising a covering strip folded to provide integral, hinged together base and flap portions, a core of substantial thickness included in a fold of the base portion and comprising plural plies of folded sheet material, the bottommost plies terminating short of the free edge of the base portion to provide an undercut pocket along said edge and the flap portion being coreless and relatively thin and being inherently pliable and wide enough to cover and conceal the base portion after tacks have been passed through the base portion and into a support for mounting the welt, and a bead on the free edge of the flap portion shaped substantially complementally to said pocket and adapted to fit therein.

CLARENCE B. HILL. 

